


hashtag cat, hashtag cats

by kuro49



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cats, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 13:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1745927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck has an Instagram, Mako likes to snapchat, and their cats might be in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hashtag cat, hashtag cats

**Author's Note:**

> Or the one where Chuck Hansen has a cat named Hercules and Mako Mori has one named Stacker Pentecost.
> 
> This has been sitting in my drafts, half done and kind of embarrassing for a while now, but I would just like to start this off with the fact that I don’t actually have a cat.

“You should take it.”

Chuck spins around in his chair, infamous scowl already in place, fist clenching tighter around his pen on the cusp of snapping it clean in half.

“Mori.” He starts and she cuts him off. “Chuck.”

It’s not stalemate if neither have what the other wants.

She continues.

“You will be responsible for the entire project, it is a very good opportunity.”

The job will take him out of town, four days a week for the duration of this project. And he can’t have that. It’s not like anyone knows he has a cat, unlike Mako Mori who has a framed picture of hers. Stacker Pentecost is large and with a coat of sleek, black fur that looks brown in the sunlight.

Chuck would know. Of course, he would. Mako makes sure that he does with her daily snapchats of Stacker.

“What’s it to you if I take the job or not?”

He narrows his eyes and tries to turn back to his desk, only to have Mako kick out her feet, stopping the wheels on his office chair with her heels.

“I can take care of yours.”

“My what?”

“Your cat.”

Her smile is all edge and intent, like she’s been planning this from the start. So, maybe this _is_ a stalemate.

“How’d you—”

“Cat hair.” She picks one off of the suit jacket he has draped over the back of his chair. Grinning, she shows it to him before dropping it into the garbage bin tucked beneath her desk. “Also, the scratches on your arms.”

Chuck rolls his eyes.

“That was one time.”

“Once is more than enough.”

Mako spins around in her chair, moves the picture frame with Stacker Pentecost back where she likes it exactly and turns back to her work, ignoring the aggressive clicking of the pen Chuck hasn’t snapped in half coming from behind her.

 

Chuck is pretty sure that it is a proven fact that Mako is always right, if not on every front then on every front that involves Chuck’s life. Because here he is, three hours before his flight is due to take off, standing in front of Mako Mori’s door, his cat carrier in one hand and Hercules’ favourite toys in a bag in the other.

He rings the doorbell and she opens her door like she’s been waiting for him on the other side all morning.

(She probably is, just not for him but for the furry one lying comfortably in his carrier.)

If Mako Mori is the kind of person that bounces on the balls of her feet in excitement, well, then, this would be it. She gestures to the table and watches intently as Chuck sets the carrier down, watches almost impatiently as he unlocks the door and reaches in.

“Mako, this is—”

“hercules_handsome.” She breathes out, looking down at the big, ginger cat Chuck is holding in his hands. Her eyes are wide and Chuck is pretty sure if he doesn’t have his cat in his arms, she would’ve punched him hard enough to dislocate something when he lets out a snort of laughter.

“…I take it you follow Herc on Instagram.”

“Who _doesn’t_?” Mako asks in return, looking genuinely offended.

“The scratches were because of that cat armour pic.”

Mako bites her lips, laughter muffling as she gives him a pat on the arm, his omission forgiven, his snort of laughter even, with her next words. “Your pain was worth it.”

 _I thought so_ _too_ may be unsaid but Mako doesn’t need to see the way Chuck looks down at the cat in his arms to understand that it might as well be screamed out loud. The ginger cat makes a noise, a soft rumble from the back of his throat, and Chuck lets go on instincts, like he knows exactly what the cat is asking of him.

And maybe he does, Mako feels as though sometimes she can understand Stacker just fine too.

 

From the corner of his eyes, Chuck tracks Hercules making his way through Mako’s den. He is telling her about the catnip bulldog toy that Herc likes best when Herc finds the patch of sunshine on Mako’s carpet that is just comfortably the size of a single cat.

One that is already occupied by Mako’s Stacker Pentecost, his fur nearing a deep shiny brown in the bright sunlight coming through the windows. Herc doesn’t swat at the other cat like he does with everything else (mostly Chuck’s things), just goes close enough to touch and turns back at the last moment, ducking his head like he is almost _shy_.

Chuck stares, a little bit fascinated as Herc makes a show of taking a survey of the room, continues with his tail held high, swinging back and forth in an arc. Mako just shakes her head with a faint smile at the way Stacker just glances to the new cat in his home with his green-yellow eyes and settles back down in his favourite spot.

“He likes him.”

She tells him, pointing at the way Stacker shifts to make just enough room for when the other cat decides to lie down next to him. The two of them tracking Hercules as he comes padding back to his owner, pawing at the toe of Chuck’s boots, and it is not unlike he is saying goodbye. Chuck crouches down and nudges his cat with a hand, smoothing the fur from neck to tail in a single practiced move. He has Hercules arching into his palm, bared teeth nipping at his fingertip.

“See you, Herc.”

Anyone else, he would never have said a thing. Standing up, he figures if there’s one thing Mako is in no position to judge him for it, it would be their cats.

“Just make sure that when I get back, Herc hasn’t eloped with your cat.”

Mako rolls her eyes, “I will take care of Hercules, you focus on the project.”

“When don’t I, Mori?” He turns back, grin sure and cocky when he stands just outside of her door with his luggage in hand and his plane ticket tucked carefully in his briefcase.

She returns his grin, just as sure, just as cocky.

“When I will be snapchatting you pictures of our cats on their honeymoon.”

And then she closes her door in his face.

(When she turns around, she already sees Stacker and Hercules lying curled around one another, Hercules resting his head comfortably against Stacker, like they’ve been old friends for all their lives.)

Her phone is silent when she takes the first picture of the two of them.

 

For the next four days, Chuck’s phone is constantly lighting up with new notifications. Bright little blue light flashing as Mako sends over another snapchat of their cats.

One is of the two of them with the sides of their heads pressed together, tilted in tandem, as they look straight into the camera. Another is of Herc laying a paw to Stacker’s tail, and then another of Stacker lying draped over Herc, eyes wide and attentive, almost protective of Herc as the ginger felines sleeps the afternoon away.

Chuck doesn’t know how this becomes his constant.

Mako’s infuriating grin as she takes a selfie with both Stacker and Hercules crowded around her pillow, Herc abandoning his bowl of cat food to share Stacks’. Mako’s hands as she holds up two cat toys she can’t decide between and the caption: _pick one_ and Mako with one arm holding both cats up and the other struggling with her phone to snap a picture that isn’t blurry beyond recognition.

There is one of Stacker touching his nose to Hercules’, a 5 seconds clip of their cats meowing in sync, and then another picture of the two of them lying sprawled at the edge and ready to slip off of her couch, side by side.

The fact that Chuck takes a screenshot of every snapshot is just going to be another one of those secrets he takes to the grave.

Jet-lagged and running on that last sip of that morning’s coffee, Chuck is not surprised that Herc goes with a little bit of reluctance when he comes by Mako’s place to pick him up. What is surprising is when Stacker tries to follow, head already ducking into Herc’s carrier before Mako can pull him out.

“He likes him.”

Chuck looks at the cat meowing away in Mako’s arms, and then raised an eyebrow at her explanation. For as long as they have been co-workers, Stacker Pentecost has always been the fixed point in her apartment. And to see Stacker reaching out with a paw in Herc’s directions, Chuck corrects her.

“He _really_ likes him.”

She doesn’t deny it.

 

XXX Kuro


End file.
